A Fascinating and Educational visit to Surrey Coroner’s Court.

Suzanne and I were warmly welcomed to the Coroners Court in Woking by Senior Coroner Richard Travers and Area Coroner Simon Wickens.

Being my first visit to a Coroners Court, it was fascinating and very educational, learning why a death might be referred and the stages of investigation that a coroner may request, from a post mortem, to an investigation to an inquest. Unlike other courts it is not adversarial with two parties opposing each other; instead it is inquisitorial with the coroner leading a fact-finding investigation into who, when, where, and how someone died. The investigation of the coroner can lead to a Prevention of Future Death Report if it believed action should be taken to prevent future similar deaths.

Suzanne and I were given a tour of the five courts, two are designed for juries; which interestingly in a coroners court only have 11 jurors. A jury is required for specific types of deaths, primarily when a death occurred in custody (like prison or police), was violent or unnatural, the cause is unknown, or if it resulted from police actions, a work-related accident, poisoning, or disease.